Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2017 (TAAF2017), the international animated-film festival which will be held from March 10 to 13, has revealed the nominees of its competition division!

This year’s competition received 671 entries from 52 countries and regions. The increased number of entries from last year’s awards is evident of its growing popularity.

Four feature-length films and 34 short films were chosen as the nominees. The four feature-length films include two French movies, April and the Extraordinary World and The Girl without Hands, My Life as a Zucchini from Switzerland and Bad Cat from Turkey. It seems many unique works have been made in Europe, and all four movies are rare works that cannot be easily seen in Japan.

It has also been revealed that there will be a special screening of Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni (In a Corner of This World) during TAAF2017. The movie won the 2016 Best Japanese-Film Picture Award in the 90th Kinema Junpo Best Ten awards.

The anime movie Kono Sekai no Kanasumi ni is based on Fumiyo Kouno’s manga which had won the Merit Award in the manga division of the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival. The story takes place in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, during World War II and is about a girl named Suzu who tries to live strongly in a tough world. The movie has already reached 1.1 million viewers, and its box-office revenue has exceeded 1.5 billion yen. Its popularity doesn’t look like it’s coming to an end any time soon.

The special screening will be held at Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro on March 12. The movie’s director, Sunao Katabuchi, will be appearing as a guest speaker at the screening, and he will talk about his passion and thoughts on creating an animated film.

The tickets for TAAF2017, including the special screening, will be available from 12:00 on February 1, 2017. The prices differ depending on which movie you choose. Adult tickets are from 1,000 to 1,300 yen, and student tickets are from 800 to 1,000 yen.